FÉILE O’SULLIVAN is out of hospital and home for Christmas after months of surgeries and treatment.

On Monday, the day before the 13-year-old returned home to Beara, paramedics, nurses and surgeons involved in her recovery threw her a party at Crumlin Children’s Hospital.

It was a joyous occasion - but nothing compared to the surprise her grandparents, Martin and Mary, got when Féile arrived in the sports field next to their home in Allihies at lunchtime on Tuesday.

'She is excited to see everybody and be in a normal setting,’ her mother Maureen told The Southern Star. ‘Being home is bigger to her than anything.’

Maureen confirmed that Féile has six whole days to enjoy at home before returning to Crumlin, and the thing she is most looking forward to is ‘her granddad’s spuds, they are top of the list!’

All of Féile's friends at Beara Community School have been to Dublin to visit her, and she, in return, is hoping to see them on her home patch.

‘The road between Dublin and Allihies has never been so short,’ said Maureen, a teacher at Beara Community School, of the eight-hour, 740km round trip.

The first responders and those who helped get her the urgent treatment she needed immediately after the accident on the family farm on the afternoon of July 2nd all gathered to welcome Féile home on Tuesday.

Her homecoming was meant to be a relatively low-key affair, but in a small community word went out and people surrounded the sports field, at a respectful distance, to give her a rousing reception, something worthy of an all-Ireland win.

The last time Féile was on Beara soil was the day she was airlifted to Cork University Hospital where, her mother Maureen confirmed, she was on the operating table within an hour of take-off.

There, she was stabilised for a week before being airlifted on July 9th to the children’s hospital at Crumlin, one-hour before her 13th birthday.

Féile has undergone 61 surgeries at Crumlin over the last six months, so it is not surprising that some of the surgeons, who attended the party in the hospital on Monday, had never seen her awake before.

Both Féile's legs were amputated as a result of the accident. The story went global and there was an overwhelming response to the StandForFéile fundraiser organised by Garnish GAA Club.

To date the fund for medical expenses, house alterations, and ongoing care stands at €775,000, but Finbarr Harrington, Cormac McMahon, Liz O'Leary and Ollie Rue O'Sullivan believe it will exceed €1 million in 2026.

The latest, in a long line of fundraisers, saw Tadgh Cullinane on behalf of Goleen GAA club​, raise €37,500 at an auction in Norma's Pub last Saturday night. Fundraisers for 2026 include the GAA Golf Classic in Kenmare in April​, and The Whitehouse Gospel Choir in Eire Óg in Cork.

Maureen and Féile are beyond grateful for all the support they have received. ‘It is literally impossible for us to thank everyone, which is not surprising when you consider the reach of the campaign,’ said Maureen.

'I have, for example, a brother​, Donal, teaching in a school in Belgium and he continually gets asked what can they do? Some of them don't even realise that he is Féile's uncle, but some Irish lad who might know the story.’

In a fit of hyperbole, The Southern Star asked Maureen if Féile is a saint? ‘She’s a teenager,’ was her mother’s reply, yet she went on to describe what a genuine, stoic and joyful person Féile is.

‘Right at the start, while still in the intensive care unit, and undergoing agonising physio,’ Maureen said, her 13-year-old told her: “A hard life is better than no life."

‘That will tell you her mindset,’ said Maureen. ‘There are no words to explain her. She has always been a happy child, always.

‘You’d know if people knew Féile if they spoke about her in a happy way. Because that is the only thing you ever see. There’s always a bright side, a silver lining to everything for her. That has carried through her whole time in hospital.

‘She’s just genuine. Nothing becomes a big thing for her. It's water off a duck's back.’

Maureen said her own family and friends have been a tremendous support to her, personally. She summed up people’s kindness: ‘Things that you’d never think of, people have thought of. It shows that people are good. They just need an opportunity to show it.’

After her Christmas break, Féile will be going back to Crumlin for a couple of months and then on to the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Dún Laoghaire.

‘Going to Dún Laoghaire means that prosthetics are a possibility, that managing her own self-propelled wheelchair will be a possibility.

‘There was never a moment of "Oh, she won’t be able to do that", it was always "We’ll find a way" so that’s what’s driving her at the moment.’